The Home Meeting-the Unique Way for the Increase and the Building up of the Church

The Home Meetings—the Unique Way for the Increase and the Building Up of the Church

Acts 4:31 ; 8:4 ; 6:7 ; 12:24 ; 19:20 ; 1 Cor. 1:18 ; 12:8 ; 2 Tim. 4:2 ; 2 Thes. 3:1 ; Col. 4:3

SPEAKING THE LIVING AND RICH WORD FOR FOUR THINGS

GAINING A DEPOSIT OF THE LIVING AND RICH WORD

If you are going to speak the living and rich word, you should not trust in some kind of inspiration. Suppose you have never learned English, yet you trust in spiritual inspiration to enable you to speak it. I assure you, you could wait until the Lord comes back, and you would still not be speaking English. To learn English you first have to learn the alphabet, then the words, then sentences. You have to study English for many years before you are able to speak it in a [177] living and rich way. In the same way we could not have the living and rich word from the Bible just by inspiration. In the past you may have had the desire to speak something from the Bible, yet you felt that you were short of utterance, short of words. You did not have the living and rich word.

Paul’s main thought in 1 Corinthians 12:8-11 is that the Spirit is distributing the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge to the saints while they are in the meetings. If you do not read the Bible and therefore lack a rich deposit of the divine Word, you will come to the meeting empty. Then, even if the inspiration comes, you will not have the deposit you need. If you are going to serve people with a rich feast, you first need to get the groceries. If you do not have the groceries, how could you cook a rich meal? It is impossible. We all have to spend adequate time to pick up the Lord’s word from the Bible.

THE HOLY WORD AND THE HOLY SPIRIT

We have to thank the Lord that on this earth, two great gifts have been given to humankind and to God’s chosen people. One of these is the Word, the Bible. In this universe and on this earth, there is such a book that is called “the Book.” Bible is a Latin word that means “the Book.” This is “the Book,” the unique book. If today there were no Bible, the earth would be full of darkness. The Bible is one of the greatest gifts of the Lord to mankind.

Our God has also given us another gift, the Holy Spirit. The Lord Jesus as the very God went through the wonderful processes of incarnation, human living, the all-inclusive death, resurrection, and ascension. Through all these wonderful, excellent processes He eventually did two things. First, He breathed the Spirit of life into His disciples on the day of His resurrection. Then He took another step to pour out the Spirit upon His disciples in His ascension. In His resurrection He breathed the Spirit into us, and in His ascension He poured the Spirit upon us. In that way He baptized all of us into one Body. We have the Bible, the Holy Scriptures, and the Spirit—the Holy Spirit. These are the two greatest gifts that we have today.

However, we always neglect these two gifts. We may have the Bible on our shelf or even in our pocket, but it has never gotten into us as it should have. In addition, many times we grieve the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 4:30 says, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in  whom you were sealed unto the day of redemption.” The Greek word unto implies “with a goal to reach.” This means that the sealing is not once for all but continuing, still going on. We are still under this sealing all the day long. The Spirit is sealing us until we reach the goal of the redemption of our body. However, the real situation is that most of the time we care neither for the Holy Spirit nor for the holy Word. Mainly we just care for ourselves. As Christians, we have been saved by the Lord, and we have been graced by Him. Today we are seeking after Him, and we love Him, yet we mostly care for ourselves, not for the holy Word or for the Holy Spirit. We need a turn to care for these two gifts. We have to enjoy these two gifts hour after hour, day by day.

We have to pick up the word from the Bible until we have a rich deposit. Then when we come to the meeting with such a deposit, at any time we can write a check for a hundred dollars, a thousand dollars, or even a million dollars. When you come to the meeting with a deposit of the living and rich word, surely the Spirit will distribute to you the deep word of wisdom and the rich word of knowledge. The way to keep such a deposit is by laboring on the Word of God. Just as we have no reason for not eating the physical food, we have no reason, regardless of how busy we may be, for not taking the spiritual food. Christians today are so weak, so poor, and so low just because of the spiritual famine. They do not eat the spiritual food. They do not pick up the Word regularly. Even among us I still feel that there is such a famine. If you mean business with the Lord for His recovery, and if you do love Him, you have to love His Word. The Lord Jesus said clearly, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word” ( John 14:23 ). We must take His Word daily. Learn to pick up the Word and gain a deposit. Then when you come to the meeting, it will be easy to receive some distribution from the Spirit, either the word of wisdom or the word of knowledge. In this way you will speak by the Spirit. For this you must have a praying spirit.

I have many experiences along this line because I speak so much. Recently, before a meeting I felt that I had no choice but to pray much. The inner feeling told me that a little prayer would not be adequate. That would be like going to the gas station to get your tires pumped up but leaving before the tires are filled. You have to pray. Not only so, when you come to the meeting, you must come with a praying spirit. Then while you are speaking, you will speak with a praying spirit. While I am speaking, I am praying. I am trusting in the Lord. I believe that while I am speaking, He is one spirit with me. In this way you will spontaneously have the sensation, the assurance, that you are speaking the holy Word with the Holy Spirit. Then you will have the boldness. We need this kind of speaking. We need the saints today to speak the living and rich word by a praying spirit. Then through this praying spirit, you will surely participate in the Spirit, who is your boldness.